Pretty Reaper Sailor Moon
by l0chn3ss
Summary: Student by daylight, Soul Reaper by night, Maka Albarn leads a double life as the Reaper of Madness, Sailor Moon! Combined with blurry romantic visions of a past life and the appearance of one striking Tuxedo Star, Sailor Moon must regain her courage to untangle the mysteries and save the day from Queen Arachne. "In the name of the Moon, your soul is mine!" MaStar Reverb 2017.
1. Chapter 1

Welcome to Reverb 2017, the MaStar Solo Fic edition!

This story is meant to accompany user Happyisahabit's Reverb art found on tumblr which I will weave through the story.  
Liz has been such a great friend and just a huge inspiration for me through this entire process. From movies to meme collecting to looking into the void as the plot thickened to chanting "more more more more more"– my dudes this was a freaking adventure.

Thanks to betas Psychadelicrose and Rebornfromash, y'all rock my world

As always, stay tuned for more on the adventures of Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Star~  
Will be updated biweekly until completed

* * *

 _ **Chapter 1: Balsamic Moon: Surrender, rest, recuperate.**_

Fighting evil by moonlight, winning love by daylight.

Never running from a real fight, she was the one named Sailor Moon!

 _Just kidding._

It was a borrowed title, one that she had no intention on returning until she was through with it. However, so long as she was standing, she was resolved to carry on that name until she couldn't anymore. While her true name, Maka Albarn, was preferred, her teammates called her by an alias in battle.

By day, she was a straight A student, someone who worked hard and had the results to reflect her dedication. Among other endless categories of success, she also held a part-time job at her local library and volunteered at pet shelters on any weekend that would fit her schedule. Lately though, something else began to occupy her time.

By night, Maka Albarn became Sailor Moon, a Soul Reaper who was committed to battle the forces of Madness and to restore Order to the Earth. Said forces had awoken merely a couple of months before, and Maka was unprepared for the first ever monster that emerged from a litter box. It was the first night that she, and modern Earth, had ever encountered a pre-kishin, a being of Madness that manifested from a corrupted soul.

There were many reasons why one would manifest; they could possess human beings, the lingerings of a soul in an object, or even animals that were mistreated to the point of insanity. No matter the reason, the source was all the time. It was caused by shadowy minions that carried shards of a powerful soul, corrupted and blacked by another external force that sought to plunge the world into chaos.

Maka would say that it was also the fault of the original Sailor Moon, a young woman whose broken soul was now Maka's through the processes of reincarnation. It was her soul that was the vehicle of literal madness now, and her soul that Maka was stubborn to retrieve. She was always told by spiritual people like her Shinto priest and the random hippie on the side of the road that her soul was incomplete. It was ominous news for any child to take, but as Maka grew up, she began to shrug it off as just a way for people to get her to pray more. Now that the truth was out, she wanted all of her lost fragments back with her- she hadn't felt complete in _thousands_ of years.

There was also another bit of detail that motivated her: if the pre-kishin, the Madness-tainted souls, were allowed to run rampage, they had the chance to turn into a full Kishin. Those were true monster that would become powerful enough to throw the entire universe into Madness. If one ever did manage that feat, like the supposed 'Asura' that destroyed the Moon Kingdom, it would be on Maka's conscious. There was no chance with both the world and her soul on her line, and so fuck it all, pet-sitting and resume building can wait.

* * *

One early morning, a box of chocolates was possessed by the residue feelings of its owner. The person who last touched them was a younger teen who knew nothing about the cruelties of heartbreak, learning their lesson with a public rejection and a plot of humiliation. They abandoned the box on the side of the road where a creature of darkness had picked it up, fusing into the treats and turning them a much more bitter taste.

It was true that each person put a little bit of their soul into every present, and that made it all the more difficult to contain when suddenly that little bit of their soul was touched by Madness. That was what they called it, it was a manifestation of their negative emotions and desires to rectify the wrong to right by whatever it took, including terrorizing the metropolis. When left unchecked, the pre-kishin had a chance to attack innocent citizens and to absorb their life energy which in turn strengthens them. There was no real explanation for newscasters, nor could they ever get close without getting attacked themselves or their equipment malfunctioning from the excessive Madness that charged the air.

That was where the Soul Reaper Guardians came in.

They were ready during all and odd hours of the day, ready to deliver justice and balance. Except for Sailor Venus, who groggily arrived that morning, barely balancing on her heels. She didn't hear her friends' warnings that whispered to her from behind the buildings and lamp posts. Instead, she tripped over an empty box of chocolates, catching herself just in time before she planted into the sidewalk.

"Shit, if there were only three pieces in there," she examined, picking herself up and kicking the hollow box, "I'd be pissed, too."

The sound of crushing plastic brought on the attention of the large pre-kishin. It emerged from behind a car that was faced away from Sailor Venus' line of vision, jumping to blindside her. Sailor Mars entered from her hidden spot to counter it with a kick, landing it squarely in the center of its humanoid chest and breaking it into smaller pieces. There was no time to relax however, and while the other two girls ran up to join them, the pre-kishin was already reforming into three separate masses.

The Soul Reapers were made of only four members in this lifetime comprised of Sailor Mercury, Venus, Moon, and Mars. All of them were young women, each equipped with their own special abilities and areas of combat that they used to defeat the pre-kishin. Sailor Moon, however, was usually the one who was able to give the final blow when the pre-kishin's soul became exposed from battle. She managed with a specialized weapon called the Soul Eater, a sharp edged scythe that not only cut through physical material but also through spirits and souls.

Before they could manage a final blow though, the team needed to find the main body where the soul resided. It was always easier said than done. Their only hope was to fight long enough for Maka to distinguish the glow of souls- yes, two souls to be exact. There was always that bit of soul that Madness clung to, but there was also Maka's fragments that the Madness harnessed, fusing both together to form a pre-kishin. Everything became tied together- from Maka's desperation to eliminate the pre-kishin to their hideous obsession with Maka once they got a taste of her energy. It was their end-goal: to capture her. Like hell Maka would ever let one come close.

Like hell _anyone_ on Maka's team would ever let one come close.

Tsubaki and Patty, rather, Sailor Mercury and Sailor Mars, rushed to the front lines, charging up their powers with a junction of words and gestures. At the end, they clasped hands, unleashing a burst of steam with their pseudo-resonance, combining their powers of water and fire. While it was not the ever so powerful resonance that Sailor Moon could release from each individual, the attack was powerful enough to blow back the choco-clones. Not only did it separate the enemy, it also separated the Reapers.

The fog that remained clung to her suit and made her scythe feel a little more slippery. Maka could barely make out the silhouettes of anyone in her field of vision, especially seeing the separated three incarnations all at once, but she knew that her teammates were in the fray. There was yelling and flashes of light where elemental attacks bursted from their fingertips. But were all three clones fighting already? Or was one of them lurking.

A growl to her right made her brace for an impact that never came. She heard a cackle and was relieved to hear that voice again, as obnoxious and loud as that noise was. A blue rose struck the ground at the feet of the chocolate pre-kishin, and Maka traced the throw back to the man perched on top of the roof, carefully poised and ready for praise. Maka thought it was unnecessary, but strangely enough, its intent was to distract the enemy long enough for Patty to emerge from the fog.

Her eyes glowed red and her mouth was set in a terrifying, eager grin. She landed a blow in mid-air, blasting through the candy at the side of the pre-kishin's face with sheer force. She threw another fiery punch directly into the other side, melting the cracks into a glistening pool of glazed chocolate. Although half of its body was marred, Patty relentlessly aimed shot after shot of fire at the hollow body as she let out a screech saying som

ething along the lines of " _bleed, mother fucker! Give me that strawberry jelly!_ " She only stopped when there was nothing else left to hit, but she jumped away from the puddle of goop at her feet when it made a grab for her ankles.

While the enemy was preoccupied, the man took a moment to speak to her.

"Oy! You thought you could defeat that with your guard down?"

"Tuxedo Star," she scoffed, greeting him.

"Sailor Moon," he responded with a cocky grin. "You can step back now, I'll handle it this time."

"You sure you can? You've had a pretty bad track record lately though?"

"Only because you keep stealing the final blow, Starlight."

"I just like your face of disappointment when I do."

"I bet you like my face for other reasons, too."

"Keep talking, Star. It distracts me from your ugly."

"Look, you guys are cute and all," Tsubaki interjected, voice escalating into a yell, "but is now really the _time_?"

Tuxedo Star shrugged off the comment, but Maka was a touch embarrassed. She forgot for a moment that there were still others who could hear them loud and clear, and shifted her weapon in her hand. It refracted the morning rays, and just as planned, one of the pre-kishin took notice of her position.

It charged at her, but she was ready for it this time, deflecting its peanut brittle teeth and peppermint claws with an easy swing of her scythe. In an effort to keep her still, gumdrops were scattered at her feet, threatening to stop her where she stood. A couple steps of fancy footwork got her out of that sticky situation. There was just a problem of visibility, though.

Maka yelled into the sky. "Sailor Venus! _Wind!_ "

"Oh shit, roger!"

A pulse of glittery pink blew back the fog to the edges of the street until it dissipated. In the center of the ongoing waves was Liz who struggled to keep her powers under control and to prevent the other girls from being pushed too. As the newest member of the team, she was still struggling to feel like an asset. Just like earlier that morning, it often felt like she did more harm than good when they were fighting Madness. Fighting people and social constructs like oppression? No sweat. Fighting monsters with magic in a leotard? One sweat.

But as the box of chocolates that Liz previously tripped over tumbled down the pavement from the wind, Maka was struck with an idea.

Love and Liz were clearly the strongest bet for this enemy.

Heartache was usually the reason behind the Madness- Maka had figured that out after seeing the pattern appear time after time. There was a possibility that it may very well be the same reason now, especially with the presence of three clones and the three piece box of chocolates. It meant that with the powers of Sailor Venus, they could force the aching conjoined soul to reveal itself.

After the wind subdued, Maka reached Liz. "Resonate with me, Venus."

They clasped hands, stealing away whatever precious time they had before the pre-kishin realized that its biggest threat wasn't Patty's sweet tooth. The longer they had, the more energy that Maka could harness to give to Liz, for Liz to give to Maka, and for both to combine their powers into a single attack as one. That ability was just a small inkling of several moves that Princess Serenity had mastered- the Soul Resonance. It took not only a strong bond, but also trust and courage to share a bit of their souls with each other. The result was worth it though, and Liz was more than ready to bare her heart to Maka if it meant that they could become stronger together.

"Here we go! _Soul Resonance: Beam of Love!_ "

A purple link light surrounded the pair in a spherical glow. It took a moment to grow larger, more vibrant until little outlines of hearts emerged and began to dance around the edges spiraling pattern. A warmth filled Maka's chest as she became engulfed in a thick bubble of Liz's Love, and just when Maka thought that was it, Liz raised her free hand, aiming her pointer finger towards a chocolate pre-kishin.

" _Bang_."

Her attack released, pelting each incarnation with a fury of rapid energy beams that fired from Liz's light. Each shot let loose an explosion of smaller shotgun shell beams that ricocheted off surfaces, but the surrounding structures were safe from the impact; the only things hurt were those that Liz deemed as the enemy.

Just as Maka'd hoped, the pre-kishin had stopped regenerating, and indeed part of its chimera soul was exposed to her specially tuned eyes. As it laid helplessly on the street, Maka took a quick second before she put it out of its misery.

She snorted, "'Beam of Love?'"

"Excuse the fuck out of me, princess, but you didn't exactly help me brainstorm," Liz retorted, its effects a little dampened from her fatigue. "Do your thing now," she wheezed.

"My pleasure," Maka replied, already running head first straight towards her prize.

There was only one thing in her world that could separate a soul the way that she needed it. The cut had to be precise to keep both her fragment from collapsing on itself but also strong enough to remove the Madness from its grasp. That was a specialty of her Soul Eater, the scythe that could cut through dark chaos and life itself. Its namesake was its ability to harvest a soul like grain and to reap lives easily with a single well aimed swing. How accurate it could cleave apart two souls depended on the wielder; Maka had plenty of time to practice. One of the most dangerous _and annoying_ weapons rested in her hands, and it was time to awaken it- _him_.

She charged his red blade, sharpening the edge with spiritual energy as he'd instructed so long ago. The Soul Eater responded to her, spreading the power more evenly across his surface and within his metal, chuckling just slightly at her eagerness. With his aid, Maka severed her fragment away from the pre-kishin, destroying the monster in that same swing. The evil was finally purged from the crystalized essence, and Maka picked it up from the ground where the pre-kishin had been laying. Her soul fragment took the form of something that resembled an exquisite angel aura quartz crystal, the shape and size varying depending on each piece that Maka had found. It radiated a rainbow light around it, creating a ring that extended around the center like a halo.

It was still an ongoing mystery as to who she really was in her past life. These memories... these fragments… they were nothing more than a puzzle with lost pieces. Honestly, it was none of her concern in this incarnation whether the world was ending or not- until she realized that there was more on the line than just her peaceful everyday life. Everyone's lives would be lost if what her guide, the Soul Eater, told her was true.

According to him, Maka was the reincarnation of a powerful moon princess who died protecting the Millennial Grigori Crystal Soul, _her_ soul. The term "protection" was used loosely when the guide had recalled events that would suggest otherwise. As the story goes, once upon a time, there was an evil witch, and that evil witch wanted powers beyond what should have been granted to one mere individual. But as her resources grew and her greed along with it, she set her sights on one of the most prosperous kingdoms of the universe, a kingdom located on the strait of the Milky Way. It was there where the rumored source of fortune that blessed the galaxies surrounding it was kept, a pure soul of sorts.

Maka could guess what happens next.

The witch sent her dragons to pillage. The moon tried to defended its kingdom, but hope was lost when the princess was defeated, her memory scattered. And by scattered, it really meant lost, shattered, split into smithereens. Her life was erased from fate due to the destruction of her soul to the point where it was like she never existed in the first place. Her very existence had been stricken from memory and history and only the select few who happened to hold onto a fragment remembered.

The Soul Eater's mission now? To restore his master's very being… whatever it may be.

The princess' soul was just barely intact enough to reenter reincarnation, though no one knew where it ended up until Maka's lifetime.

With the addition to the piece regained from the pre-kishin, maybe… just maybe she could learn a little more about the ordeal.

Maka brought the pulsating crystal to her chest, and it absorbed into a deeper space where it clicked into place. A vision flooded her senses, and she was taken back to a different time.

A time where the ground glowed a faded white. A time where oceans of ice and fire mingled naturally where craters formed. A time where meteors blazed above head and sprinkled diamonds and stardust onto leaves of forests and dripped to a child's waiting palm. A time where the Moon _blossomed._

That was where she was now.

She was Princess Serenity, daughter of the Spirit of the Sun and of the Goddess of Light, the prematurely coronated ruler of Selene, a moon kingdom that had somehow grown from a small territory to a fully recognized empire across the span of a few millenia. By her side were her guardians, powerful weaponized spirits of their own rights who devoted themselves to protecting their ruler faithfully. There were eight in total, but one woman was adored with more accessory than others, a sign that perhaps she was a more recognized figure in Serenity's life.

That theory was proven quickly as her blue gloved hand gently nudged her friend closer to the edge of the balcony where a mass of spectators were waiting. Serenity's nerves were getting to her, but with Sailor Mercury's reassuring whispers, she was able to force herself to bang her scythe onto the marbled tiles and ignored the small 'ow' that squeaked from it. After waiting for a moment for the audience to settle and to turn their attention to her, she addressed them warmly and began her carefully rehearsed speech. Her Guardian Reapers stood a little taller, straighten their backs a little better, and radiated with a lot more pride as her voice projected across space.

It started with an introduction about the growing conditions, how births were outnumbering deaths and how bountiful the fruit had been as of late. But they weren't clear yet. There was still the looming threat of the Spider Witch and her Kishin; her thread of deception was inching closer and closer to them as the orbits circulated. Serenity hesitated for a moment, but the pause unintentionally allowed for the message to sink into the most stubborn of skeptics. Before the muttering could grow amongst the crowd, she lifted a hand, drawing all eyes back onto her.

There was hope, she said steadily. And that hope rested with their newly forged alliance with Earth. While the rekindled connection between the moon and its planet was unprecedented, it was a new age to mend the past and to begin something new. They could make it work- they had faith.

There was also someone who the kingdom had to meet. Serenity gestured behind her, stepping aside to allow a figure onto the platform. She was grateful, especially because she'd only been able to manage to make this work with the help of-

 _Of who?_

Maka awoken under the concerned gaze of her three remaining Reapers and of Tuxedo Star. She knew that with every memory she managed to repossess, they too were able to reconnect to their own pasts and remember the bits of her that were lost. She was becoming more real and more tragic as time went on as they all realized that there was still so much left missing… so so much out there that they couldn't begin to fathom.

Her weapon shifted in her hand, becoming a silhouette of a man and solidifying into one faster than one can blink. While it wasn't his 'true' form, it was one that he managed to maintain to better serve her, or so he said on the night they'd met, groaning. In this form, he largely resembled someone her age, although his teeth were sharpened to a point when he smiled and his blood red eyes were too intense and too knowing to be human. His snowy white hair reminded her of a distant home and his cool touch was a familiar comfort. He knelt beside her, carefully lifting her upper body to a sitting position with the help of Star, the latter not looking away from Maka for a second.

No one spoke until she regained her bearings. Meanwhile, she didn't speak until she assessed the damage of the surrounding area: there was none. Nothing less than a miracle, she sighed, turning to her teammates. "Is everyone ok?"

"Spiffy," Patty responded first, posed with a peace sign.

Liz followed up. "What about you though, and did you learn something new?"

"Nothing new. Although, there was a couple of logistics about that moon king-"

"Ah, too bad we don't have time for that now," Liz interjected, dodging the less savory details. "How are _you_? You were supposed to answer that first."

Maka grimaced at her friend's unfiltered thoughts but appreciated the question. There was growing tension the longer she stalled so she quickly answered in the same mannerism as Liz's sister. " _Spiffy_."

After checking to make sure that Maka was truly alright and promising to listen to her vision later in the day, the other girls departed before the morning rush hour began to fill the streets. Sailor Mercury was the last to go, displaying concern but realizing that she was overstaying her welcome. She warned both Tuxedo Mask and her teammate to not linger for long, and to Maka she directed a 'see you later' as she used her enhanced strength to exit the scene swiftly to detransform safely away from the eyes of the public.

It was a little unnecessary, Maka thought. Still, she accepted her friend's good intentions nonetheless. She pushed away from the ground to stand upright while both of the men left behind braced her. It was appreciated since she began to feel dizzy immediately, but she couldn't help but to feel embarrassed at their help. Her stubbornness to stand on her own caused her to pull away from them, and she began her first few steps homebound.

The Soul Eater, who she affectionately called Soul, was more hesitant to release her. He called to her once more to check, but she nodded aggressively. She needed to be at work soon anyway, there was no time to coddle her. At that, he frowned but soon left both Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask to themselves. Maka knew that he would be nearby within earshot though, just in case.

And then there were two.

Tuxedo Mask rarely gave parting words when they left after a battle. It was always a hasty "smell ya later, Starlight," as he hopped away. He was also never a man of comforting words, choosing instead to banter with her or to tease her every move. She'd gotten used to it over the months. Then again, Maka rarely reabsorbed her soul within his presence- he was always gone by the time the action was over.

She realized that her fainting spell may had worried him since she was only the one who was affected during the process. Everyone else seemed to get glimpses of the past about Sailor Moon within their own point of view and through the eyes of their incarnate. Sometimes they shared the same memory, and other times they were vastly different. However, they were all virtually unharmed while Maka was the most affected; maybe it was because her soul was literally rebuilding itself.

Her recovery time was becoming better as they collected the soul shards, signalling her returning strength. More attacks were also beginning to emerge the more that Soul remembered. He instructed the rest of the team and guided them through moves that their previous selves had spent centuries perfecting. It was only a matter of memory.

And that issue of memory may have been why Tuxedo Star seemed to be hesitating. There were words that were poised at the tip of his tongue, and yet he held them back for reasons they both shared. They still had no idea who each other were, let alone what their roles were in each other's past lives. Tuxedo Star was tight lipped and didn't interact with Maka the way that the other Soul Reapers had in their pedestrian life. The girls all knew each other before they were awaken as Reapers.

Tuxedo Star though… His entire existence was a mystery to her just as the original Sailor Moon was, and perhaps Maka was curious about one more than the other. They remained suspiciously of each other despite their friendly exchange, dancing around their comfort zones just enough to test their limits. For a long time now, Maka knew that the man was of significance to her, one way or another, in one life or the next. She almost was frightened at what the memories may unlock about him that she wouldn't want to find out.

After a moment of silence, he managed just a few simple words that struck a chord in her heart. He said quietly, just enough for her to make out, "Why do I want to protect you so bad." It was a statement, not a question.

Maka bit her lip, holding back a response of her own until she could make sense of it…. Of that _why_...

He continued on, undeterred when she couldn't answer. "All I know is that when the moon comes into view, the rest of the stars fade away," he sighed, choosing that moment to take his leave. With flick of his wrist, his cape fluttered over his body, and he vanished behind it like a cheap magician act.

* * *

She arrived to work a little delirious, just a wee bit battered from the fight beforehand. But life waits for no one, not even a pretty soul reaper guardian. Worn out was an understatement; she clocked in and climbed onto her chair at the front desk, glad to be resting her feet for however long she could. Although she spent more time than she wanted to, she still managed to make it before the library's opening.

Once she sat down though, a white cat with familiar blood red eyes peeked its head out from under the table, mewling quietly when she patted her skirt and accepting her invitation. It climbed on with one graceful leap and settled into her lap, purring as she scratched between its ears. They were both lucky that it'd gotten permission to be with her during work hours, but under the premise that it was a registered therapy cat, it got to stay with her all day so long as Maka cleaned up after its shedding. The cat was not as it appeared though, holding more secrets than a common person could ever hope to understand.

"Good work today, Soul," she said under her breath just loud enough for him to hear.

The cat closed his eyes to make two happy crescent shapes, pleased with all of the attention and the scritches. Maka dare not say it, but his purring was cute even for a shapeshifting man-cat-weapon. He was unlike anything the Earth had ever seen for thousands of years, the only one of his kind and a being forged from blood-moonstone during a solar eclipse.

The only one who could effortlessly wield the Soul Eater was his master, the Moon Princess. He was in tune with her soul from the moment he was created and developed a loyal bond with her that transcended lifetimes. It was he who also awoken Maka's hidden abilities, seeking her help to restore her soul and to save the universe from Queen Arachne. The universe was in terrible danger, and it was his and Serenity's fault that she wasn't completely defeated so long ago. He wanted nothing more than his master's soul to rest in peace, but at its current state, peace may have been just a pipe dream.

Maka agreed after a bit of persuasion, accepting the scythe and her new role as protector of Order. With it, she gained a new piece of armor- a white and midnight blue outfit complete with boots, gloves, and matching bows around her chest and lower back. She was embarrassed to find herself in a leotard during the first time that she transformed into the clothes, but was relieved to find out that it came with a pleated mini skirt; pants were just not her thing to fight in- or her thing at all. While she wondered how her limbs would be protected at all, Maka put her trust in her newfound powers drawn from the moon itself. Following a rough night and a successful reaping with both Soul and Maka, she never doubted his resolve to keep her safe ever again.

It was the least she could do to give his cat form a comfortable life in her single person dorm room.

While tired students began to pile in after one of her co-workers unlocked the front doors, Maka took the time to use their morning sluggishness to her advantage. No one wanted to speak to her or to anyone else until they had at least three shots of their in-house espresso, so what better time to unwind a little. She stretched out her back unprofessionally, leaning back against her reclining chair, cracking her stuff knuckles and sighing at the relief. If she had a chance to ask Patty for a massage later on her lunch break though, she would take it in a heartbeat.

It was too bad though, because Patty was on her way to a Giants game with her friends from school. She'd already sacrificed her spot in line in favor of fighting the pre-kishin. While it was necessary to do, but still painful to them all, knowing that they all had something that became more of a priority than their own lives. Patty most of all deserved any time that she got away from other strenuous life things, so Maka hoped that her friends' school friends were thoughtful about Patty's unexplained disappearances to become Sailor Mars.

In late February a couple of months prior, Maka had been introduced to her through Liz, Patty's elder sister. They'd both moved into the area earlier that year, but both girls got a rough start to their new lives. Despite being at the top of the food chain in Brooklyn, they were bottom-feeders in the eyes of their current city's authorities. After Liz had deemed Maka worthy, she brought Patty along to her weekend brunch date, hoping that Patty would make a friend her age in the new area.

Patty wasn't eager of Liz's meddling and she avoided Maka's reaching hands and kind smiles. Eventually, Patty began to fell back into a life of crime behind Liz's watchful eye. She started to lose herself in bad neighborhoods and found herself in awful situations that she had to fight to get out of. There were even times when she would go missing for several days at a time, and no one knew how to prevent her downward spiral. It was just a continuous decline, going down and down and _down…_

Of course she became the prime target for the shadows of Madness.

Soul was the one who asked Maka to keep an eye on her, too suspicious about the sudden shift in mood one day when Patty had snapped in front of them. While she was moody from the start, she had displayed some level of control and chose to let go of her frustrations in street fights or against inanimate objects- never through unfiltered harsh words and an explosion of verbal violence. She must have realized that she'd done something off because she found an excuse to leave immediately after. One knowing glance from Soul later, and Maka was on Patty's trail.

They followed her closely, catching the exact moment when a pre-kishin emerged from a pocket knife that she clutched in her pocket. But why didn't it possess her, they wondered. As it turned, Patty's soul was remnant of a Soul Reaper Guardian who worked closely to them in the past. Its powers flared once it had sensed the Serenity's presence, and it only took a promise of friendship to fully awaken her as Sailor Mars. Patty was the first of the reapers to join their team, and she'd been an indisposable ally ever since.

Maka chuckled fondly at the memory as she waited for Liz to arrive to work, and Soul nipped her fingers when her petting slowed down. Keeping one hand on his fur, she decided to go back to her little project that she'd been working on in between her free time at the desk. It was good that she looked busy, but other co-workers knew that she was merely working on her poetry. She turned to the latest page in the notebook that she drew from the cabinet beside her, rereading what she'd previously written. It was just incomprehensible lines written in chicken scratch so far.

She was glad that her handwriting was only legible to herself because honestly, the content was embarrassing. There were phrases that she wrote that reminded her of bad cliche pickup lines and the ones from a time before were just as bad, if not worse. She begrudgingly admitted though, it was true that a misery and love were the best sources of inspiration.

"If a star fell each time I thought of you, the sky would be empty," Maka read aloud, indicting a couple of snickers from below. "One more of those out of you and you can sleep on the couch tonight."

Soul hissed half-heartedly but kept urging her to run her hand down his back.

She went back to her notebook, picking up a pen. As neat as she could, she wrote, "I remember the sky in my hands, but the star slips from my grasp."


	2. Chapter 2

**_Chapter 2: Last Quarter Moon: Release, let go, forgive._**

He was as useless as ever that day, but he was still nice to look at as he posed, balanced on the lamppost. Tuxedo Star arrived fashionably late; the fighting had been going on for a couple of minutes already, and Sailor Mercury was their key player. Maka thought that there wasn't much else for him to do, so she made sure to let him know.

"Stay there, you're a better backdrop than you are a fighter."

"Woah, too much of a compliment does make the heart go aflutter."

Maka snickered. "You're too easy to please."

"Well, you would be too if someone just implied you were good looking."

He threw a single blue rose from the folds of his cape, manifesting it from a material space where apparently he had an infinite amount of weaponized flowers. It countered a flying shoe that had been heading towards Maka, and the colliding force flashed blue before they vaporized.

"Speaking of good looking, you can thank me later," he said smugly.

"How about I thank you now?" Maka countered as she jumped, angling Soul Eater into a swinging position.

She briefly registered Tuxedo Star's panic when he thought that she was aimed for him, but he realized just in time that Maka's attack was for the pre-kishin behind him. He ducked quickly, dodging both in one move, and more importantly, exposing the enemy for Maka to land a finishing blow. The rest of the minions under the main body's control collapsed, releasing various outfits and accessories from possession. As for the pre-kishin, Soul was able to successfully separate the hostage and Maka's souls, eliminating the shadow of Madness all together too.

He and Maka caught the woman before she fell, returning her to the ground where they laid her, using a folded dress as a pillow. From what they could tell, she was an aspiring fashion designer whose clothes couldn't capture any institutions' eye. Combined with constant stress and financial struggles, she accepted Madness to destroy the Order that rejected her. Tsubaki seemed to know the woman, and she tucked a ragged notebook under her unconscious arm for her to find when she woke up- or at least for them to be moved together after they made an anonymous call to the police about a mysterious freak accident involving a victim.

In her worry, Maka didn't realize that she'd forgotten to collect her soul fragment. She looked around for a bit, hoping that it didn't crash and break further. Or worse, she hoped that another shadow didn't steal it to create a pre-kishin for next time. There was a shameful moment involving another victim; she didn't want to accidentally repeat that mistake twice, yet there they were.

Tuxedo Star cleared his throat, snapping her attention to him. "Lose something?"

In his palm was her soul, and his shadows had been smoothed away by its glow, softening his face. It was brighter than usual, like he'd grabbed the North Star for safe keeping. He conjured a handful of pink rose petals and they circulated around the soul in a spherical pattern. When he blew gently like he was blowing a kiss, the ball floated down to Maka, safely delivered. She gathered up the reaped soul fragment once the petals dispelled, but a single one was left in her palm.

Once she gave it to Soul to hold onto, Maka thanked Star again, making sure to slide in a joke about his priceless expression from before just in case she was starting to sound too sentimental.

He knew how to take gratitude no matter how disguised, especially when it was geared towards himself. "My pleasure, Starlight. My work here is done."

She scoffed at the notion, "But you didn't even do anything." Any of the hard work at least.

Tuxedo Star let out a boisterous laugh, putting his hands on his hips and tilting his head towards the sky. He drew his cape in his signature fashion to indicate his departure but didn't notice that he'd been stepping on his coattails. The result was a flashy tumble down the side of the roof and while he landed on his feet, the kinetic energy pushed him onto his bottom. He cussed loudly while the other girls giggled, Maka included, and she continued until he escaped, out of sight.

Their initial conversation was so different than the ones they carried now. They'd met on Maka's second night under the full moon.

She was inexperienced and lacked the confidence that she had later on in her fighting abilities. Because of that, she hesitated in nearly everything she did, too worried about whether she would succeed or not. At the very least, she had the courage and faith to trust in Soul's guidance to know when to strike and when to guard. He was already trained in that art, proving it during their first battle when she managed to earn her first kill.

When she arrived at the scene, her legs weren't shaking nearly as much as before. They'd never reacted that way when she participated in taekwondo tournaments, but she supposed that there was an actual danger in what she was attempting to do next. Soul morphed into his weapon form once they had the pre-kishin in sight and rested in her hands until it was time for action.

There was just a single problem with their approach: no one told Maka that this particular pre-kishin was capable of making decoys. It hit her from the side, crashing her into trash bags on the side of the curb. Soul's quick reflexes helped take most of the blunt, but Maka was too shaken to do anything she was supposed to do. Instead, she spent her time dodging attacks and jumping at every moving shadow, including her own. She was getting pulled on a string, toyed by the very beast she was meant to hunt- it was demoralizing.

With her back literally against the wall, Maka was trapped. She was only waiting for the inevitable hit to come now, and that was when she felt a breath, a growl, on her neck. Before she could react, she saw a blue flower- a rose- pierce the brick by her side, releasing an electrically charged current and a sound of agony from the pre-kishin. While she was still in shock, it peeled away from the wall and dropped by her feet.

"You gonna finish that off, Starlight?" A voice came.

She blinked, but took the chance to cut off the pre-kishin's head as instructed by Soul who finally stopped internally screaming himself. He de-transformed to collect the soul while Maka was glaring suspiciously around them. "Who's there?" she demanded. "Show yourself."

The first laugh that she'd heard all night came from above. "Up here- no, to the left- yeah, good seeing you there."

His smile directed at her was blinding, and the moon behind him did nothing to ease his brightness. He was dressed formally from top to bottom, from his form-fit suit to his scuffed dress shoes, and Maka noted quickly that the color matched her own suit. There was a black mask that covered his eyes to where she couldn't even make out the colors of his irises. But the most striking feature that left the strongest impression was his spiky electric blue hair- so unlike any color that she'd seen before.

She wondered if it was natural, but even her own hair became slightly longer when she transformed, wrapping into two twin tailed buns on the top of her head. And this was assuming that his appearance was related to her own, of course. She was absolutely fucked if he weren't.

"Who are you? What's your deal?"

"Just here to save a damsel in distress," he cackled. "As for a name? I guess you can call me Tuxedo Star. At least that's what I think I'm wearing."

No matter how badly she'd done during the second hunt, and no matter how she struggled against the pre-kishin even with the help of the Soul Eater, there was not a soul alive that was allowed to call her a damsel in distress. Maka made sure to let him know, beginning an argument that would slowly become friendly bantering and then to flirtatious wordplay with a groaning audience in their presence.

Maka snorted, ever so appreciative that he could still laugh no matter the circumstances, even after an embarrassing fall and during a confrontation by frightened young girl.

* * *

His head was in the clouds and his heart was with the moon.

On his evening run around his everyday route, Black Star was straying his own path. His heart was quickening and his palms were sweaty even though he swore that he'd only started ten minutes before. It wasn't normal for him to be already out of breath, but when he went into a mindless zone as fitness junkies often do, he found himself thinking of something- _someone_ \- else.

It was the flutter of stray bangs and small ringlets that he thought of so endearingly. It was the shine of a golden tiara and a contrasting midnight skirt that swayed on her hips so elegantly. And it was the confident forest eyes that pierced through foe and friend alike that he found so staggering.

Black Star didn't want to put a name on the reason why his chest stirred in her presence, but if he did, he would call it something more than just shallow attraction. She made him curious, made him wonder and probe himself as to why. There were questions that he wanted answers to, and even if she didn't hold the key, they were still about her and her person and her ways and her life and _her_. She was daring him to look away from her light, but he feared that it may not be possible anymore.

He didn't know he would be into blondes, but Black Star was a simple guy with simple needs. He chose his alias in the spur of the moment and only later did he realize that the name was calling to him since that strange night when he first saw Sailor Moon. On any other occasion, he would have thought that it was strange and not suiting for the image that he was going for. Then again, these strange memories of the past... even though they were from his perspective, it really wasn't him, was it?

There were times when he wished he could just focus on his life- on his goal to become a guidance counselor for troubled teens. Then, there were other times when he wished that he could see the moon every day. It all became worth it to him when she gave him a half-grin half-smirk, and their little exchange was something that he replayed over and over again, even when he'd hopped away. He wished he could give her a little something more to remember him by- that single petal from before just wasn't enough.

A couple of months had passed since they first became acquainted and developed their strange banter. And as time continued on, Star became more and more hesitant to leave her even after the fray was over. He found himself wanting her to make it home safely, to be careful of any other creatures of madness lurking in the shadows, or anything else looking for a target out on the streets. Sailor Moon was a capable woman- he was sure of it- but something about her made him want to protect her; he wasn't sure that it was strictly professional.

All that he knew about her was that she was an unforgiving fighter, that she stopped at nothing to reach justice for all who were involved with the Madness, as if it was partly her fault that her soul was scattered in the first place. As incomplete as she must feel during her hunt for her fragments, he felt that he was incomplete as well, like there was someone missing from his existence, and he wondered if it was her.

Who ever this Prince Endymion was, he was surely fixated on Sailor Moon. Through the memories that Black Star had recovered about the original Princess Serenity, he learned of trace details about Moon Kingdom, how it thrived despite the growing threat of Madness and how it attracted jealousy across the galaxy. Unfortunately, Endymion's Earth was one of those places where the Moon Kingdom did not extend its resources to. There still seemed to be some connection between him and Serenity, though- something that helped the Earth prosper to its current state. Whether it was through negotiation or by force, it wasn't Black Star's issue to think about.

What mattered was that it wasn't the first time that his soul wanted to reach out to Sailor Moon. Other than having a new body, she was different in this lifetime. Yes, she was brasher and reckless. Less of a royal figure and more of a warrior who placed herself in the midst of the action. The same kind of leader, just forceful, eager to run where others had trouble following. A solo artist who was learning to accept the same help that she extended so readily to others. She was full of heart. Radiant. _Beautiful_.

And did Black Star dare- was he in love with the girl behind Sailor Moon?

He sighed, because surely, he must be. All past feelings aside, he was definitely infatuated with the person who appeared before him.

On the side of the road, he saw a single bloomed flower sprouting just between the grass and the cement. While he didn't know the name, it tempted him with its gold speckled petals and vivid green leaves that fanned around it. The purple and red tinted tips and protruding stamen coaxed him, but Black Star thought that surely the motion was just the breeze that caused the flower to shiver. Still, he was beckoned closer until it was all he could think about- to get close enough to pick it for his own. Just briefly though, he remembered Sailor Moon and how perhaps she would be happy if he presented it to her. It was what gave him the final push to pick the flower.

But before he could snap the stem, it uprooted, stepping above the ground as if they were legs. It hoisted itself up and then leapt towards Black Star's face, latching on and muffling his surprised yelp, suffocating him and inserting its pollen through his mouth and pores. Soon enough, he fell limp. It was easy to give into the haze that spread rapidly through his mind. And just as quick, the flower came to life, a small humanoid figure springing from the middle of the bloom.

Its name was Shaula, and she was more than happy to find that the boy had some unexplainable powers. While his mind was still fuzzy, she whispered to him carefully, of the deeds she was waiting to do, of the crime she had been so carefully plotting to commit since the time her physical body was destroyed thousands of years ago. Witches simply didn't die easily, mark her words, and she was finally prepared for her revenge on the Earth.

She peeled away from his face, crawling down until it reached his chest, clinging onto the material of his shirt and settling herself carefully over his heart. One of her specialties, though admittedly something she'd learn from her older sister, was mind control. Just a speck of her poison was enough to contour the wills of her victims. But poking around his head was strangely more difficult than Shaula remembered; she dismissed her suspicious as being unpracticed for too long. Still, there was something that he was not relinquishing to her, something that her vines just couldn't pry.

It's fine for now, she supposed, scratching at his mind. There was plenty of time for that while she feeds on his energy. Until he was weakened enough for her to figure out exactly what his secret was, there was plenty more that she wanted to do.

Bits of a familiar past was itching at the back of Black Star's head along with the rest of his body. There was a vague feeling of numbness as he stepped down the path in front of him, not aiming at particular destination and forgetting the flower entirely. He couldn't figure out why he was feeling woozy either- not like himself. But he didn't mind it, in a way. And almost involuntarily, he recalled a moment just a couple of months before- the first time he'd ever seen Sailor Moon.

He'd made himself an accidental target for a pre-kishin before he knew that they existed. Little did he know on top of that, the pre-kishin that attacked him was the very first one that ever appeared on Earth, the very one that Sailor Moon killed on her first hunt. He'd been feeling awful about his day, but mostly, his life. While he was walking home that late evening, just passing an animal shelter on the way home from a victory-less baseball game, he caught the attention of a possessed cat.

Sailor Moon appeared not a moment too late, screaming and determined to slay the beast before it could slay _him_. His frantic eyes met hers during the scuffle, both shocked to see each other in the fray, feeling an indescribable moment of familiarity just before she was blasted away by the enemy. It was like Black Star wanted to say "I know you," even though realistically there was no reason to do that. He'd never seen that person before in his entire life- or so he believed.

When the pre-kishin was defeated, disappearing in a puff of sparkles, a piece of crystal dropped onto his lap. Unaware of its significance, he picked it up to hand to the girl, but when she thanked him, the shard grazed his soul and shattered his peace forever. While all he could see were inklings of another reality, he vaguely registered her insistent sputtering and departure, leaving him to his own devices and awaking as Tuxedo Mask on the side of the curb with a kitten mewing in his hands.

From those visions, he realized that there was a time when the Earth and the Moon were not friendly with each other at all, when Black Star's incarnation was the Prince who inherited the Earth. They'd been in a Cold War for the last thousand years, arguing and fighting over the smallest things. The origin of the tension continued to change and to evolve over centuries at a time until the true reason was lost completely.

Did that ever change?

 _No_ , Shaula crooned.

So "no" it was.

* * *

Unaware of the ordeal, Maka tossed in her bed later that night. She'd stayed up too late stargazing again, and of course there was only one person on her mind when she goes into those kind of dazes. With her thoughts still straying from sleep, she threw the covers off, groaning frustratingly as she reached for her notebook. Never before had she been so fixated on another person; it was almost worrisome if she hadn't already resigned herself to those uncontrollable feelings.

She wrote quickly enough for the words to make their way onto the paper and to empty out of her head, just barely legible for her to decipher in the morning. Maka supposed that she should have at least turned on the lights, but the emerging moon gave her just enough of a glow to locate a blank page, and really that was all she needed. In her most hasty moment yet, she wrote, "The stars lean down to kiss you. I lie awake, I miss you."

Clearly, she would have to burn the paper in the morning, but at least it was out of mind and out of sight. At least that was the idea behind writing it down. Instead, she endured a sleepless night, thinking about nothing else than the owner of the petal that she pressed so carefully into her notebook.


End file.
